Timberline Alumni Foundation hosts Spartan banquet and fetes '04 state softball champs
Apr. 13—There is perhaps no community in the region more dedicated to its history of high school sports excellence than that surrounding Timberline High School of Pierce-Weippe — and another showcase of the Spartans' enduring school spirit is coming to the valley today.
A spring social banquet held by the Timberline Alumni Foundation will feature the induction of the school's 2004 Idaho Class 1A state title-winning softball team into the organization's Hall of Fame.
Festivities begin at 3 p.m. and run until 7 p.m. at River Port Brewery in Clarkston. The event will double as a fundraiser and include a silent auction, membership drive, no-host bar and snacks.
Greg Billups, who was both the coach of the '04 Spartan softball team and one of the original members of the alumni foundation, said the organization was created several years ago with a central aim "to promote educational opportunities for students in the upper Clearwater here," and that the funds it raises go to "extra stuff for schools, from athletics to computers."
Billups coached the Spartans from the time that fast-pitch softball was introduced across the state in 1998 and stepped down from the position following the '05 season. His team defeated area rival Lewis County of Craigmont/Nezperce 7-2 in the final behind an ace performance from senior pitcher Catrina Erickson, who piled up 13 strikeouts from the circle while hitting for two doubles and three RBI. Other standouts for the team included the likes of catcher Camas McCool, first baseman Lynnae Tilley and second baseman Kaylin Daniels.
"Lewis County had beaten us in the district tournament, so it was nice to one-up them at State," Billups noted. "There was a big run of state (softball) championships from District II, a long run of state championships in this area, and it was started by that '04 team, so we feel like we contributed a lot to softball at that time."
Also recognized at today's banquet will be the foundation's female athlete of the year, former 1970s track and field star Rene (Gates) Anderson, plus co-male athletes of the year Don Jared (a member of the school's 1972 state championship basketball team) and Warren Priddy (another track standout from the '70s), with Priddy further receiving the Outstanding Spartan Award.
The community's sporting prestige was at its apex over half a century ago when the Weippe Gorillas, a precursor to Timberline, won a series of state boys basketball and football championships, and the newly formed Spartans (created by a merger with neighboring Pierce) followed up with the 1972 basketball title. The '04 softball winners will be approaching the 20th anniversary of their own title as they are honored today.
